Arms, grains, diplomacy: What North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin gain from each other
North Korea, Russia, and China on one side against South Korea, Japan, and the United States. In case North Korea chooses to supply arms to Russia, the already heavy Western sanctions against the country can intensify. The experts claim that Russia has everything, the troubled North Korean economy demands.
“Russia is a food export country, a fertilizer export country, an energy export country," Cho Han-bum, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification told news agency AFP. Joseph Dempsey, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that North Korea can seek the transfer of key technologies, knowledge, and manufacturing capacity for North Korea's arms industry to advance and be more sustainable. Moreover, proximity to Russia also means diplomatic gains for North Korea which is a message for China.
"Since the Cold War era, North Korea has always practiced the so-called 'pendulum diplomacy' between China and the Soviet Union, going back and forth to maximize its benefit," said Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University. "I can see some of that being practiced now." Apart from the much-needed validation, Russia is particularly interested in artillery shells that can be easily integrated. "North Korea likely represents the largest stockpiles of Soviet-era legacy artillery shells and artillery that could be used to restock depleted Russian inventories from the Ukraine conflict," Joseph Dempsey told AFP.
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